Annunciator for street-cars



Patented llune 20, |899.

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

E. C. BATES.

ANNUNCIATOB FUR STREET GARS.

(Applicntion Bled Jan. 20, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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No. 627,I7|. Patented lune 20, |899.

E. C. BATES.

ANNUNCIATOR FUR STREET GARS.

(Application led Jan. 20, 1898.) No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Witnesses UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDW'ARD C. BATESLOF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ANNUNCIATOR FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 627,171, dated .T une 20, 1899.

Application filed January 20, 1898. Serial No. 667,330. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD C. BATES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Annunciator for Stree t-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to enable the driver or operator of a carto announce to the passengers within the car the names of the successive crossing streets, and to effect this without having his attention diverted from the track in front of the car or from prospective passengers at intersections; and to this end the invention consists in the combination, with any suitable annunciator-as,

and tubes. Fig. 4 illustrates the invention combined with coupled cars. Fig. 5 is a detail view.

The apparatus may be applied to a streetcar of any construction, either a singlelender or, as shown, a double-ender-t-hat is, with a platform at each end-and with either open or closed platforms, and'it may be used either with horse-cars or cable or electric or elevated-road or railroad cars otherwise propelled.

At about the center of the car is an annunciator, shown as a double trumpet, which in the construction shown consists of a hollow sphere d, with two diver-ging trumpets h b eX- tending toward the opposite ends of the car, the said sphere communicating, in the case of a double car, with two tubes c c extending from the sphere to the opposite ends of the car and beneath the hoods d thereof.

When there are platforms at both ends of the cars, a deiecting-plate e is arranged with in the sphere d opposite the mouth of each pipe c, so that any sound coming from one pipe into the sphere will be deliected to the lower part of the latter and will not be sent outward through the other pipe. y

There it has -heretofore been proposed to use megaphones in street-cars, the receiver pipe hasbeen so arranged upon the platform that the conductor or operator desiring to speak into the same is obliged to turn his face toward the end of the car. When the announcement is to be made by the driver or operator at the forward end of the car, it will be evident that in turning to apply his mouth to the speaking-tube he inrust direct his attention from the road in front of him, so that he is not only liable to miss the calls of those desiring to board the cars, but also to overlook obstructions,with resulting accidents. In order to overcome this objection, the tubes c c, instead of extending to mouthpieces arranged upon'or adjacent to the ends of the car, are extended beneath the hoods d d to suchaposition that the mouthpiecef may be carried down to a position in front of the operator at the forward end of the car, and it is therefore practicable for the operator to speak directly into this mouthpiece without turning his head away so as to prevent observation in the direction in which the caris going.

Vhile the mouthpiece f may be upon apermanent fixture pendent from the end of the tube c or a continuation of the tube c, it is preferable to flexibly connect it with the end of the tube o, either by a rubber tubing or, as shown, by means of a jointed section c', so that the said section, with the mouthpiece,

Amay be swung down, as shown at the lefthand end of the car, Fig. l, to a position to permit the motorman to speak into the mouthpiece and announce the various crossings or to be turned up, as shown at the right-hand end of said figure.

In order to retain the sound and prevent its passage to the rear end of the car, a valve may be used for closing the tube when the mouthpiece is turned up. As shown in Fig. l, this valve may consist of a pad t, so arranged that when the mouthpiece is turned up it will close against the said pad, shown at the right-.hand end of Fig. l, or, as shown in Fig. 2, the sections c may have abend c2 extending into a socket at the ends of the pipe o and with an opening a; so arranged as IOO 'to communicate with the interior of the tube c whenv the mouthpiece fis in a downward position, but so as to close against the side of the socket when the mouthpiece is raised, thus practically closing the tube.

While a megaphone has been shown consisting of a double trumpet and a sphere, it will be evident that there may be Variations of this arrangement, that a single trumpet may serve the purpose in short cars or that there may be two or more trumpets differently arranged, and the pipe c, instead of eX- tending along the center of the car, may eX- tend along the side of the same, or one pipe at each side, terminating in a trumpet, as shown in the diagram Fig. 3. y

In order to provide fora proper adjustment of the mouthpiece vertically, the said mouthpiece may be upon a short tube f', which slides upon the tube c, as shown in Fig. 2, or any other suitable mode of adjustment may be adopted.

In Fig. 4 the tubes c are coupled by coupling-tubes c. In some instances where the cars are long` it may be desirable to use means for increasing the sound or for carrying it better to the passengers, and I propose to use an air-current for this purpose. Such a current may be obtained in different ways, as, for instance, by means of a funnel t projecting forward from the pipe c, so as tc collect the air and cause it to flow back toward the ann u n ciator.

Without limiting myself to the precise construction an d arran gementof parts shown and described, l claim as my inventionl. The combination with an annunciator within a car, comprising a double megaphone the trumpets of which extend in opposite directions and with a tube extending therefrom, of a mouthpiece arranged at the forward end of the car in position to be in front of the operator at that end, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with an annunciator within a car, of a tube extending therefrom to the end of the car, a hinged tube-section at the end of said tube, and a mouthpiece Vertically adjustable independently of the tubesection, substantially as described.

3. The combination with an annunciator within a car, of a tube extending therefrom to the end of the car, a mouthpiece communicating with the tube, and a funnel likewise communicating with the tube and opening in the direction in which the car is moving, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the pipe extending from the end of the car, a mouthpiece connected therewith, the annunciator within the car, and means independent of the mouthpiece for directing an air-current toward said annunciator from the exterior atmosphere, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

ED W. C. BATES.

Witnesses:

J osEPH H. WALES, H. R. PEVERLY. 

